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Lola
My eyes burned as I sat there on the deep, impossibly soft couch in his living room. The urge to lie down and go to sleep was incredibly strong. But at that moment I knew this wasn’t going to be one of those conversations I could just sleep through.
Why the fuck didn’t you just find somewhere else to park last night?
It had been a risk, of course, but to my mind it had been a reasonable one. I thought I could just pull up in his neighborhood, which was quiet as a mouse on even the busiest night, park along the curb, and get a few hours’ rest.
However, I hadn’tthought about what would happen if I forgot to set my alarm on my phone.
I’d become used to seeing Ellis pacing before me, his hands shoved in the pockets of his pajama pants. The way they highlighted the narrowness of his hips and the compact roundness of his ass had me thinking entirely non-sleepy thoughts. I purposely avoided watching the swing of his cock as he walked by me. The last thing I needed to be thinking about at that moment was Mr. Winters’ penis.
“When were you gonna tell me that you’re living in your car?”
I bit off a gasp, my stomach dropping to my feet. “I… why do you think I live in my car?”
Ellis stopped, his eyes narrowing as he stared at me. “Patrick tipped me off that you looked like someone who might be living in their vehicle. He’s seen it plenty of times before. He thought I might want to know.”
My stomach twisted with a familiar sheepishness. It was a quiet shame that I loathed, but couldn’t help but feel at my pitiful circumstances. Literally nobody in my life knew.
Until now.
He began pacing again, taking his hands from his pockets and scrubbing them across his face. “So, I want to hear it from you.Areyou living in your vehicle? Are you homeless?”
The tears pricked in my eyes so fast I was shocked at their swiftness, and I pleaded with myself silently not to start crying. It was hard to hear someone else say that about me, that I washomeless.
That I had nowhere to go.
His voice softened somewhat as he continued. “Just tell me the truth, Lola. I’m not one of those people who looks down on those who have less than I do. I just want to know what I’m dealing with here.”
A single tear slipped down my cheek and I swiped it away instantly. “It was just supposed to be for a few weeks. My roommates were into drugs again, and I told them that I was never going to live that life. Seen too many people be consumed by it. But I knew if I kicked them out, I’d barely be able to afford my rent—and they’d probably end up on the street.” I dashed away another tear, the lump in my throat painful now. “So I just decided to pack up my shit and leave. My grandma at the time, she was… she wasn’t doing very well. And I knew she was likely to end up in a nursing home any day. So that wasn’t an option at all.”
He sat down at the other end of the couch, his fingers laced together between the span of his thighs. Thankfully, he didn’t give me that terrible pitying look that I’d gotten from so many people when they realized I was homeless. I hated that most of all.
“Look, Lola, I wanna know something right now. Do youreallyhave nowhere to go? No family, no friends?”
I took a deep breath, hating how shaky it was, but I had to keep it together. Dissolving into childish tears here would just make me look even more unreliable, more stupid. “No, not anymore. I mean, I’ve got friends who’d take me in, but it would just be couch riding—and they’d be high half the time. I’d rather chance it in my car than that.” I sighed, holding up my hands. “They never tell you how expensive it is to live in your car. I figured I could save money for a few weeks, get a place… but it never really panned out. Rent is so incredibly fucking high right now, even if I could qualify with my credit—which is a sick joke. The only place I could even hope to get it would be in a neighborhood so sketchy I’d be afraid of dying between my front door and my car. So, I do the best I can with the situation I’m presented with. All you can really do is the best you can, you know?”
Ellis seemed to be looking past me, his gaze shifting from me to something beyond my shoulder. Then he finally spoke. “What happened to your grandma? She won’t take you in? What about your parents? Where are they?”
I shrugged, not wanting to go down this line of questioning. “Not really an option. Believe me, if I could, I would.”
“You’re being evasive right now. Normally, I’d consider that to be grounds for termination.”
I tensed at that, knowing this was coming. Things were going too well, and eventually the world went back to normal.
Normal for me tended to be shitty.
But then Ellis’ gaze fixed upon me, and he watched me for a long moment, until I was almost squirming under the weight of those striking blue eyes. “Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to stop living in your car. It’s not good for you, it’s not safe, and most important, I simply don’tlikeit. Especially for somebody who’s working for me, and has access to my home.”
What the hell is he saying here?
“I don’t know what else I’m gonna do. It isn’t as if safe and affordable rentals grow on trees around here. Christ, I think a tool shed is $1000 a month.”
“I want you to be quiet for a minute, and listen to me.” His jaw was firm, his gaze suddenly cool, evaluating.
“Sorry,” I murmured miserably, looking down at the carpet.
